No.  35. 
CHRIST 
A  COVERT  FROM  THE  TEMPEST. 

BY   REV.   EDWARD   D.   GRIFFIN,  D.   D. 

In  the  person  of  our  Redeemer,  who  is  very  man  as 
well  as  God,  is  fulfilled  the  prophecy  of  Isaiah,  that  "a 
man  shall  he  as  a  hiding-place  from  the  wind,  and  a  covert 
from  the  tempest;  as  rivers  of  water  in  a  dry  place,  as  the 
shadow  of  a  great  rock  in  a  weary  /w/irf."     Isa.  xxxii,  2. 

In  a  serene  day,  when  no  wind  is  up,  when  no  rain  is 
falling,  a  man  may  see  by  the  wayside  a  shelving  rock 
and  may  pass  by  it  without  emotion.  Not  so  the  weary 
traveller  who  is  fleeing  before  the  rising  storm  or  the 
beating  tempest. 

In  a  season  of  rain,  or  in  a  land  of  waters,  one  may 
pass  by  a  river  with  little  interest.  Not  so  a  traveller 
in  the  Arabian  deserts,  surrounded  with  burning  sands, 
fainting  with  heat,  and  parched  with  thirst.  The  sight 
of  a  stream  of  water,  and  especially  of  "rivers  of  wa- 
ter," in  such  a  place,  would  transport  him. 

In  a  country  covered  with  wood  or  pinched  with  cold, 
a  huge  rock  might  offer  its  shade  unwelcome;  but  amidst 
the  parched  wastes  of  Arabia,  where  the  weary  traveller, 
exposed  all  day  to  the  intense  heat  of  a  vertical  sun,  sees 
not  a  tree  nor  a  shrub,  but  only  one  boundless  waste  of 
burning  sand — there  a  cool  retreat  beneath  the  shade  of 
an  over-hanging  cliff" — there  "the  shadow  of  a  great  rock 
in  a  weary  land,"  would  be  most  welcome. 

These  observations  suggest  a  principal  reason  why 
the  Saviour  of  the  world,  whose  very  name  ought  to  be 
music  to  every  human  ear,  is  treated  with  such  cruel 
indifference  by  the  greater  part  of  mankind.  It  is  be- 
cause they  do  not  feel  their  guilt,  and  misery,  and  need 
of  #  Saviour.  They  are  blind  to  the  infinite  majesty, 
and  'Iroliaess,  and  loveliness  of  God,  and  to  the  immense 
obligations  by%which  they  are  bound  to  him;  and  there- 
fo^lvtl^e'y'do  i>ot  see  the  infinite  guilt  of  rebelling  against 
•  a].f  ^if/cx6minands,  alhhis   mercies,  all   his  glories  and 


2  CHRIST    A    COVERT    FROM    THE    TEMPEST. 

interests;  and  therefore  they  are  not  pressed  down  under 
a  sense  of  their  awful  condemnation  and  ruin.  Hell  is 
not  laid  open  before  them  as  their  proper  punishment. 
They  do  not  stand  amazed  at  the  patience  which  has 
kept  them  out  of  it  so  long.  They  do  not  see  them- 
selves to  be  utterly  ruined,  and  utterly  helpless  and 
hopeless  without  a  Saviour.  And  therefore  his. precious 
gospel,  which  ought  to  fill  the  world  with  wonder  and 
delight,  with  gratitude  and  praise,  is  cast  aside  as  an  idle 
tale,  and  the  name  of  Jesus  is  treated  with  the  most 
dreadful  indifference. 

But  let  a  man  be  thoroughly  convicted  of  sin;  let  him 
see  himself  covered  with  pollution  from  the  head  to  the 
foot;  let  him  stand  in  sight  of  the  eternal  judgment,  und 
apprehend  that  divine  justice  has  no  choice  but  to  crush 
him  into  everlasting  torment;  let  him  see  himself  just 
about  to  receive  the  descending  wrath  of  God  with  the 
weight  of  a  thousand  worlds;  and  in  that  awful  moment 
let  him  obtain  a  glimpse  of  Jesus,  who  came  to  "save 
his  people  from  their  sins;"  let  him  lift  his  trembling 
eye  to  a  God  reconciled  in  Christ  and  smiling  upon  him: 
I  ask  that  man,  "What"  now  "think  you  of  Christ?" 
"0,".says  he — but  language  fails.  ,  A  sacred  reverence 
settles  upon  his  countenance;  his  uplifted  eye  speakr, 
unutterable  things.  I  see  it  glisten,  I  see  it  weep.  "O," 
says  he.  His  hands  are  clenched  and  forcibly  raised  to 
his  breast.  The  opening  of  the  last  judgment  could  not 
add  solemnity  to  a  single  feature.  "  O,  the  height  and 
the  depth,  the  length  and  the  breadth  of  the  love  of 
Christ!  Where  has  this  glorious  mystery  lain  hid,  that 
I  have  never  seen  it  before  ?'■  To  such  an  eye,  how 
precious  does  the  Saviour  appear  as  the  great  medium 
through  which  the  love  of  God  has  come  down  to  men  — 
as  the  W7ord  by  which  all  the  wonders  of  the  eternal 
Mind  are  expressed— as  the  great  Prophet  who  has 
brought  down  all  the  instructions  that  have  blessed  the 
world  from  the  days  of  Eden — as  the  Priest  ivhose  atone- 
ment and  intercession  have  astonished  heaven  and  earth 
— as  the  King  who  has  governed  the  world  from  the 
beginning,  and  has  always  protected  and  provided  for 
his  people,  and  has  all  their  interests  in  his  hands,  and 
all  the  treasures  of  the  universe  to  impart. 

To  one  who  is  indifferent  to  the   blessedness  of  com- 


CHRIST    A    COVERT    FROM    THE    TEMPEST.  3 

munion  with  God  and  of  conformity  to  him,  there  appears 
no  form  or  comeliness  in  Christ  why  he  should  desire 
him.  But  to  one  who  feels  an  insatiable  eagerness  to 
rise  from  this  dark  world  to  a  knowledge  of  all  the  grand 
and  interesting  things  which  are  taking  place  in  the 
kingdom  of  God — who  longs  to  be  united  to  all  holy 
beings,  and  to  share  in  their  immortal  friendship  and 
^blessedness  and  honors — who  has  no  desires  so  great  as 
to  be  good  and  conformed  to  the  God  he  loves;  to  such 
a  one  Jesus  must  appear  exceedingly  precious  as  the 
one  appointed  to  open  the  universe  to  view,  to  pour  all 
its  light  upon  the  eye,  and  to  exalt  the  soul  to  all  its 
purity,  to  all  its  dignity,  to  all  its  happiness. 

To  an  anxious  and  afflicted  soul,  the  Saviour  appears 
peculiarly  interesting  in  the  light  in  which  he  is  exhib- 
ited by  the  prophet.  In  the  charming  simplicity  of 
Eastern  figure,  he  is  presented  u  as  a  hiding-place  from 
the  wind,  and  a  covert  from  the  tempest;  as  rivers  of  wafer 
in  a  dry  place,  as  the  shadow  of  a  great  rock  in  a  weary 
land."  Here  are  three  separate  figures,  very  striking  to 
an  Eastern  ear,  which  admit  of  distinct  illustrations. 

"A  hiding-place  from  the  wind,  and  a  covert  from  the 
tempest."  This  is  but  one  figure;  for  the  latter  clause, 
as  is  common  in  Eastern  poetry,  is  only  the  echo  of  the 
former,  presenting  a  hiding-place  and  covert  from  the 
windy  storm  and  tempest. 

Jesus  is  found  to  be  the  best  hiding-place  and  covert 
from  the  winds  and  tempests  of  affliction.  A  poor,  dis- 
consolate soul,  after  it  has  been  chased  through  the  world 
by  the  frowns  of  pursuing  fortune — after  it  has  been 
hunted  from  place  to  place,  and  not  suffered  to  rest  in 
any  corner  of  creation — will  find  in  Christ  that  protec- 
tion and  repose  which  all  other  places  denied  it.  The 
weather-beaten  wretch,  after  bearing  the  storms  of  this 
inclement  world  through  the  long  night  of  affliction, 
may  find  in  him  a  shelter  under  which  he  may  hear  the 
tempest  howl  without  and  feel  it  not. 

Jesus  is  the  best  hiding-place  and  covert  from  the  tem- 
pest of  an  agitated  conscience.  When  the  lightning  of 
conviction  flashes  upon  the  soul,  and  guilt  with  its 
thundering  voice  spreads  its  dark  folds  over  the  mind, 
nowhere  but  in  Jesus  can  be  found  a  covert  from  the 
bursting  storm.     To  what   other  refuge  can  a  sinner  fly 


4  CHRIST    A    COVERT    FROM    THK    TEMPEST. 

when  the  horrid  nature  of  his  rebellion  is  laid  open  be- 
fore him?  At  what  time  his  ingratitude  to  the  God  that 
made,  redeemed,  and  preserves  him  appears;  at  what 
time  he  is  terrified  and  confounded  by  the  frequent  repe- 
tition of  his  sins  and  the  obstinacy  of  his  corruptions; 
at  what  time  guilt  superadded  to  guilt,  rolls  its  dark 
wreaths  over  the  soul,  like  clouds  that  *  return  after  the 
rain,"  nowhere  but  in  Jesus  can  he  find  a  refuge  from 
the  gathering  tempest.  The  blood  of  Christ,  sprinkling 
his  conscience  from  dead  works,  has  a  wonderful  power 
to  relieve  from  the  pangs  of  conscious  guilt.  It  is  the 
most  sovereign  balm  to  a  wounded  spirit.  "Give  me 
Jesus  or  I  die,"  cries  the  agonized  soul.  ''None  but 
Christ,  none  but  Christ.  Take  away  that  cloud  that  I 
may  see  him,  and  I  shall  live."  What  other  refuge  can 
a  soul  find  that  is  racked  with  guilt?  Let  him  go  to  his 
wealth,  his  honors,  his  pleasures;  they  are  all  unsavory 
ashes  in  the  mouth  of  a  man  dying  with  hunger.  Let 
him  go  to  philosophy;  it  is  a  stranger  to  his  case,  and 
knows  nothing  either  of  his  griefs  or  his  wants.  Let 
him  go  to  speculative  divinity;  it  is  no  physician,  but 
only  a  corpse  laid  by  the  side  of  a  dying  man.  Let  him 
go  to  the  courts  of  the  Lord — let  him  go  to  his  Bible,  to 
his  knees,  and  all  without  Christ  are  nothing.  Let  him 
go  to  God,  and  God  out  of  Christ  "  is  a  consuming  fire." 
But  let  him  only  come  in  sight  of  Jesus,  and  get  near 
enough  to  "touch"  if  it  be  but  "the  hem  of  his  gar- 
ment," and  all  his  pains  are  instantly  relieved — the  fire 
in  his  conscience  is  quenched,  and  he  is  as  much  at  ease 
as  though  lie  never  felt  a  pain. 

Jesus  is  also  the  best  covert  from  the  tempest  of  fear 
when  it  agitates  the  soul.  There  is  a  material  difference 
between  conscious  guilt  and  the  apprehension  of  punish- 
ment, although,  like  light  and  heat,  ihey  generally  go 
together.  I  see  a  sinner  convulsed  with  the  fear  of  a 
judgment  to  come.  With  an  eye  wildly  rolling  and 
marked  with  horror,  I  hear  him  cry,  "  Who  can  dwell 
with  devouring  fire  ?  who  can  inhabit  everlasting  burn- 
ings?" His  anxious  eye  looks  above  and  beneath,  and 
searches  creation  through,  but  not  a  ray  of  hope  can  it 
find — nothing  but  clouds,  and  darkness,  and  tempests. 
At  length  it  falls  on   Jesus.     Instantly  the  heavens  are 

/ 


CHRIST    A    COVERT    FROM    THE    TEMPEST.  9 

calm ;  the  sound  of  the  distant  storm  dies  upon  his 
soothed  ear,  and   every  care  is  still. 

Jesus  is  the  only  hiding-place  from  the  tempest  of 
divine  wrath.  A  rock  of  adamant,  he  stood  and  suffered, 
this  storm  to  spend  its  force  on  him;  while  his  people, 
enclosed  "  in  him,"  lay  hid  from  the  beating  tempest. 
The  storm  is  past,  and  now  their  faith  looks  abroad  and 
sees  an  unclouded  sky,  and  all  nature  smiling  in  fresher 
beauties  than  though  no  storm  had  been. 

To  finish  the  illustration  of  this  figure,  Jesus  is  the 
only  hiding-place  from  the  storms  and  tempests  which 
for  ever  beat  upon  the  regions  of  the  damned.  Not  to  them 
is  he  a  covert.  They  rejected  the  canopy  of  his  grace 
when  he  would  willingly  have  spread  it  over  them;  and 
now  he  is  nothing  to  them.  But  to  his  own  dear  people, 
lie  will  be  a  covert  from  the  eternal  storm 

He  shall  be  "as  rivers  of  water  in  a  dry  place."  The 
most  obvious  idea  on  the  face  of  this  figure  is,  that  Jesus 
conveys  satisfaction  and  refreshment  to  those  who  can 
find  them  nowhere  else.  There  is  a  thirst  for  happiness 
in  the  soul  of  man,  but  there  is  a  drought  in  all  things 
but  in  God  ;  and  for  human  souls,  a  drought  tn  all  things 
but  in  the  God  that  shines  "  in  the*  face  of  Jesus  Christ." 
Such  is  the  constitution  of  things,  that  no  man  can  find 
satisfaction  but  in  the  Christ  of  God.  Nor  will  any 
ever  find  it  there  but  those  who  despair  of  finding  it 
anywhere  else.  But  "when  the  poor  and  needy  seek 
water  and  there  is  none,  and  their  tongue  faileth  for 
thirst,  I  the  Lord  will  hear  them,  I  the  God  of  Israel 
will  not  forsake  them  :  I  will  open  rivers  in  high  places, 
and  fountains  in  the  midst  of  the  valleys;  1  will  make 
the  wilderness  a  pool  of  water,  and  the  dry  land  springs 
of  water." 

When  one  has  ranged  creation  through  in  search  of 
happiness — has  sought  it  in  the  field  and  in  the  city,  in 
the  haunts  of  business  and  in  the  circles  of  pleasure, 
and  has  met  with  nothing  but  disappointment  and  re- 
buffs; when  he  has  wandered  restless  from  scene  to 
scene,  from  employment  to  employment,  perhaps  from 
country  to  country  ;  when,  a  pilgrim  in  the  deserts  of 
life,  he  finds  himself  "in  a  dry  and  thirsty  land  where 
no  water  is,"  and   faints  to  think  that  happiness  is  no- 


b  CHRIST    A    COVERT    FROM    THE    TEMPEST. 

where  to  be  found;  then  the  gospel  meets  him  and  thus 
accosts  him  :  Wherefore  seekest  thou  "the  living  among 
the  dead?"  It  is  not  here.  Return  from  thine  idle 
pursuit.  There  is  but  one  point  whence  refreshment 
can  come.  Lift  thine  eyes  to  the  Saviour  of  sinners 
He  lifts  his  eyes  ;  he  lifts  his  heart ;  and  finds  "  waters" 
breaking  out  "in  the  wilderness — and  streams  in  the 
desert."  Ah,  says  he,  this  is  where  I  should  have  come 
before.  It  would  have  saved  me  many  sore  disappoint- 
ments and  many  years  of  anguish. 

When  one  is  piucked  and  crushed  by  the  hand  of 
adversity — has  found  nothing  but  grief  and  perplexity 
in  his  connection  with  the  world — carries  the  aching 
wounds  where  friends  that  have  been  torn  away  once 
grew  to  his  heart — mourns  alone  without  father  or 
mother,  without  brother  or  sister,  without  wife  or  child 
— unpitied  by  the  crowd  of  strangers  that  gaze  upon 
him  and  pass  him  by — while  his  tattered  grarments 
remind  him  of  better  days;  I  hasten  to  the  turf  where 
he  sits  weeping,  and  gently,  lest  I  should  alarm  the  ear 
of  grief,  say  to  him,  "Hath  no  man  pitied  thee?" 
"Ah,"  says  he,  "  I  am  'in  a  dry  and  thirsty  land  where 
no  water  is;'  no  satisfaction  or  refreshment  for  a  wretch 
crushed  beneath  misfoftune."  "From  my  soul  I  pity  you, 
but  do  not  despair.  Let  me  lead  you  to  the  mourner's 
Friend."  I  bring  him  to  Jesus:  and  when  I  see  the 
|?alm  applied  to  his  wounds,  and  the  countenance  of  the 
sufferer  beginning  to  brighten,  I  take  my  leave,  and 
return  to  my  house  with  delicious  sensations  that  an 
infidel  never  knew. 

Here  is  another  pressed  under  a  sense  of  heavy  guilt. 
Fie  also  is  in  a  laud  where  no  water  is.  He  has  sought 
on  all  sides  for  relief,  but  sought  in  vain.  His  thirst  is 
for  reconciliation  with  God.  In  quest  of  this  he  has  ap- 
plied to  external  reformation,  to  outward  duties,  to  the 
means  of  grace.  Fie  has  sought  the  counsel  of  ministers 
and  Christians,  and  has  tried  to  repose  on  the  good 
opinions  of  others.  Fie  has  made  the  desperate  attempt 
to  rest  on  universalism,  and  even  on  infidelity;  but  all 
to  no  purpose.  The  fever  of  his  mind  remains.  His 
thirst  for  pardon- and  peace  is  unabated;  but  nowhere 
can  he  find  anything  to  allay  it,  till  at  last  he  approaches 


CHRIST    A    COVERT    FROM    THE    TEMPEST.  7 

the  gospel.  He  hears  it  say,  "If  any  man  thirst,  let 
him  come  unto  me  and  drink."  His  attention  is  strongly 
arrested.  He  examines  the  passage.  It  is  the  voice  of 
the  Saviour  himself.  Fie  ultimately  seizes  the  invitation 
and  goes  to  him,  and  his  astonished  soul  finds  this  way 
of  salvation  exactly  suited  to  his* wants.  He  finds  within 
"him  a  well  of  water  springing  up  into  everlasting  life." 

The  last  figure  employed    by  the   prophet,  though  ap- 
propriate and  striking,  conveys  no  meaning   materially 
different  from  the  other  two.      The  idea  is  that  of  rest  in 
a  cool  and  refreshing  place.      "As  the   shadow  of  a  great 
rock  in  a  weary  land."     The  figure  represents  a  travel- 
ler in   one  of    the   Eastern  deserts,    burnt   with  intense 
heat,   worn   out   with   toil,  fainting  /or  water,  for  shade. 
His    resolution    and    strength    fail.      He    abandons    the 
hope   of  ever  reaching  the  end  of  the  desert;   when  all 
at  once  he  discovers  before  him  a  high  impending  rock, 
under   the   cavity   of    whose   side   he  finds   a  refreshing 
shelter  from  the  scorching  sun  and  burning  ?and.    Such  ' 
a  retreat  does  our  dear   Redeemer  afford    to  those  who 
are    fainting  under  the   labors  and   discouragements  of 
this   wearisome   life.      This   vale   of  tears   may   well   be 
called  a   weary  land.      There   are   many   in    it   who  are 
ready  to  faint  under  the   load   of  affliction,  and   can  say 
witli  Job,  "My  soul   is  weary  of  my  life."      Many  are 
weary  of  sin — wearied  out  with  a  long  course  of  painful 
struggles  with   the  world,  the   flesh,  and   the  devil — are 
often  discouraged  witli  the  greatness  of  the  contest,  and 
sink   under  the  apprehension    that  they  shall  never  get 
through  with  safety.      These  evils   press  them   so  hard 
that  they  often  sigh   for  the  grave  where  the  weary  are 
at  rest.      But  a  nearer  and   more  delightful   retreat  is  to 
be  found  in  him  who  says,  "  The  Lord'hath  given  me  the 
tongue  of  the  learned,  that  I  should  know  how  to  speak  a 
word  in  season  to  him  that  is  weary."      "I  have  satiated 
the  weary  soul,  and   1  have  replenished  every  sorrowful 
sou!."      When   his  Church  wandered,  forty  years  in  the 
Arabian   wilderness,  among  burning    sands,   without  a 
shelter  or  a  shade,  he  covered  them  by  day  with  a  pillar 
kr  cloud.      What   this  was   intended   to  signify,  appears 
'om  the  application  made  of  it   by  the  prophet:   "The 


8  CHRIST    A    COVERT    FROM    THE    TEMPEST. 

Lord  shall  create  upon  every  dwelling-place  of  Mount 
Zion,  and  upon  her  assemblies,  a  cloud  and  smoke  by 
day,  and  the  shining  of  a  flaming  fire  by  nighr  \  for 
upon  all  the  glory  shall  be  a  defence.  And  there  shall 
be  a  tabernacle  for  a  shadow  in  the  daytime  from  the, 
heat,  and  for  a  place  of* refuge,  and  for  a  covert  from 
storm  and  from  rain." 

At  what  time  a  poor,  fainting  soul,  weary  of  affliction, 
weary  of  sin,  weary  of  temptation,  casts  itself  under  the 
shadow  of  this  rock,  he  feels  a  sensation  of  relief  which 
nothing  else  can  bring,  and  which  none  can  fully  de- 
scribe. 

My  brethren,  what  everlasting  thanks  do  we  owe  to 
God  for  providing  such  a  refuge  from  the  beating  tem- 
pest— such  rivers  of  refreshment  in  a  dry  and  thirsty 
land.  What  could  the  weather-beaten  pilgrim,  what 
could  the  faint  and  weary  traveller  do  without  them  in 
such  a  world  as  this?  How  greatly  does  this  view  tend 
to  endear  the  Saviour  to  us.  What  new  motives  rush 
'upon  the  mind  to  abide  in  him,  that  we  may  every  hour 
enjoy  a  "  hiding-place  from  the  wind,  and  a  covert  from 
the  tempest" — that  we  may  constantly  lie  at  the  foun- 
tain of  living  waters,  and  feel  the  permanent  shadow  of 
a  great  rock  in  a  weary  land.  Why  do  the  people  of 
God  find  so  little  relief  from  the  distresses  of  life  and 
the  troubles  of  conscience,  but  because  they  abide  no 
more  in  their  everlasting  refuge? 

How  surprising  it  is,  that  in  a  world  where  a  covert 
from  the  tempest  is  so  much  needed,  it  is  so  much  neg- 
lected, and  that  even  by  those. who  have  often  found  it 
a  shelter  when  every  other  refuge  failed.  Would  it  not 
be  strange  to  see  a  person  ready  to  die  with  heat  and 
thirst  by  the  very  side  of  a  cooling  fountain,  and  by  the 
shade  of  an  overhanging  rock  ?  ^Tet  a  still  greater  won- 
der is  witnessed  here. 


PUBLISHED   BY  THE   SOUTH  CAROLINA  TRACT  SOCIETY. 
Printed  by  Evans  &,  Cogswell,  No.  3  Broad  St.,  Charleston.  S.,C. 


Hollinger  Corp. 
pH8.5 


